Dirty star wars

Like you, I often stay awake at nights wondering just what will happen to our planet once pollution clogs every pore of the atmosphere and the Earth's over-stuffed landfills spill their decaying contents onto this once green Eden.

Well, fear not, because according to Sling It! all we have to fear is massively addictive space battles with alien invaders that obligingly telegraph all of their attacks.

The sequel to Silver Award-winning endless-blasterPollushot strays very little from the format of its predecessor, but when the catapult vs laser gameplay is this compulsive and refined, why should it?

Eco warrior

At some point in the future, robots from the planet Pollutnik have blotted out the sun and left humanity facing an eternal winter oddly reminiscent of the one the UK is experiencing right now.

In an apparently half-hearted effort to fight back, Earth sends a lone, player-guided ship to take down the evil invaders and doesn't even give it any proper weapons.

Instead, you have to a bring a catapult to a laser fight - using falling space rocks or debris from damaged enemies to whittle down their defences and expose vulnerable cores that make for quick kills. It's a frantic experience, with chunky steampunk-esque baddies spluttering pollution and cluttering up the screen.

Movement is handled by dragging your ship around with your finger and either stopping to fire, so you can use the same digit to pull the catapult, or using a second finger to manage the weapon. The latter is ideal for tablets and, in general, makes shooting faster and less dangerous - as your ship won't stop dead for long enough to, well, end up dead.

In-app purchases explained

Sling It! is a paid app, but you can also top-up your supply of Debris (the game's currency) with 62p IAPs.

This is entirely optional, for you can collect stacks of the stuff every time you take down an enemy, though players wanting to unlock every power-up and to avoid the grind might be tempted.

The many, many different types of enemy appear in randomised waves and learning each variety's attack pattern and vulnerable spots is the secret to survival.

Score attack

Sling It! is ideal for twitch-shooter players who want to rise up the global leaderboards either on their preferred playing format (iOS, Android, or PC) or against all players.

The secret to success lies in chaining combo hits and acquiring of power-ups, which you can unlock using points accrued by replaying levels or low-cost in-app purchases for the less time-rich.

Being able to fire scattershots or charged-up blasts makes your tiny fighter more of a force to be reckoned with, although having to back out of the game and navigate some clunky menus to unlock items rather than between rounds feels a tad clumsy.

It's by no means a hyper-jump forward for the series, but Sling It!'s abundance of new enemies and well-tuned twitch gameplay make it a must for shooter fans looking for a seemingly casual blaster to get sucked into.